Obstruction Avoidance Problem

[GGinSRQ]

I am a newbie (15 flights), so this may be a silly question, but I have had a problem in three of my last four flights.

First, all the software and firmware appears to be current.

This has happened at a distance of at least 1500 feet away from me. Last night it was over water (second time this has happened) and at about 430 feet (no birds). After recording a sunset, I first backed my Mavic up about 250 feet. I then turned it around and started to fly the Mavic back to me. It went about 100 feet and stopped, giving me a message that was something like "obstruction detected, plot a different course.' This is the same that has happened in each of the flights.

My first thought was that there might have been a bird. I flew it straight up and down 30 to 40 feet, knowing birds know that birds don't fly that direction. No bird has ever been seen in front of the gimbal, BTW. I tried going forward again. It wouldn't budge. I turned off the obstruction avoidance feature, knowing there was nothing to hit. Again nothing. I finally tried RTH. That worked for about half the trip home. Another obstruction message appeared and it stopped dead again. I canceled out of RTH and the gimbal panned up to the horizon, back down about 30 degrees, and it let me fly again. I managed to get it back safe and sound.

Any advice from the vets about what I am doing to cause this, or, what I should do to overcome it should it occur again? I have managed to get it back each time, but this time it was with very little battery life left.

Thanks in advance!

 

[tcope]

If you were flying into sunlight, the collision avoidance may have been "seeing" sun spots/glare and thought this was an object. This is a known issue.

 

[GGinSRQ]

Thanks, tcope, but it was actually after the sun had set and I was flying away from the sunset back to home. Good info though about flying into the sun.

 

[lisadoc]

Did you try switching to Sport mode? That switches off all your avoidance sensors.

 

[SNP]

Did the gimbal move by itself when you were experiencing this issue?

 

[GGinSRQ]

It did, but only after I turned off the RTH, and right before I regained control.

Another question ... had I thought to turn the drone around and fly backward, would that have worked? There were no obstacles, I could have gimballed down, and at least known where it was and maybe gotten it over land, for the just-in-case-the-battery-goes-dead landing.

 

[GGinSRQ]

Good advice. I didn't think about that.

 

[LeighD]

I had the same issue returning into the sun. Got obstacle warning at over 200 ft. No birds, nothing. Drone froze. Turned around to fly backwards...no luck. Signal strength 4 bars! Sideways no luck. Frozen hovering. Tried camera movement downward.. moved and showed clear flat fields below. No luck moving to home. RTH tried. Nothing. Tried to descend. Nothing. Eventually and for no reason, it began responding so descent and then began coming back. I was in Sport mode the whole time. (Even when I got the obstacle warning!!!) that’s not supposed to even be engaged in sport mode RTH but damned if it didn’t display that message anyway.

 

[tictag]

Doesn't sound like you were doing anything wrong and I've not heard of this before (so not a known error), especially as you said you had disable the collision avoidance system. I would force a refresh of the firmware (DJI Assistant), do the IMU and compass calibration (just because it won't harm re-doing them) and if this continues to happen, consider a warranty repair/replacement.

 

[locoman]

how high were you above the water. could have been reflection off the water or windows back on shore affecting the sensors.

 

[GGinSRQ]

how high were you above the water. could have been reflection off the water or windows back on shore affecting the sensors.

I was 400 feet above, give or take 30 feet each way (when I thought there might be birds there. Since the sun had set, I don't think there should have been much reflection as in direct sunlight, but thanks for the input.

 

[GGinSRQ]

Doesn't sound like you were doing anything wrong and I've not heard of this before (so not a known error), especially as you said you had disable the collision avoidance system. I would force a refresh of the firmware (DJI Assistant), do the IMU and compass calibration (just because it won't harm re-doing them) and if this continues to happen, consider a warranty repair/replacement.

Thanks. I just did a refresh on both the device and the controller, and will calibrate everything when I get back outdoors. I guess I feel a little bit better in that maybe I didn't do anything wrong ...

 

[GGinSRQ]

I had the same issue returning into the sun. Got obstacle warning at over 200 ft. No birds, nothing. Drone froze. Turned around to fly backwards...no luck. Signal strength 4 bars! Sideways no luck. Frozen hovering. Tried camera movement downward.. moved and showed clear flat fields below. No luck moving to home. RTH tried. Nothing. Tried to descend. Nothing. Eventually and for no reason, it began responding so descent and then began coming back. I was in Sport mode the whole time. (Even when I got the obstacle warning!!!) that’s not supposed to even be engaged in sport mode RTH but damned if it didn’t display that message anyway.

That sounds familar ... to be sure!

 

[Hollow Dog]

Doesn't sound like you were doing anything wrong and I've not heard of this before (so not a known error), especially as you said you had disable the collision avoidance system. I would force a refresh of the firmware (DJI Assistant), do the IMU and compass calibration (just because it won't harm re-doing them) and if this continues to happen, consider a warranty repair/replacement.

This problem has been mentioned in several posts lately.

 

[GGinSRQ]

This problem has been mentioned in several posts lately.

Thanks, I was looking for other posts and likely because I am new, I searched using the wrong term. Any common theme as to distance/height/water?

 

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

Try cleaning the OA lenses, I had a similar issue when flying over the ocean, the mist left some residue on the lenses. Note that even when you turn OA off, there's a separate option there to use OA on RTH which is turned on by default. Wiping lenses with microfiber stopped the phantom OA messages.

 

[GGinSRQ]

Try cleaning the OA lenses, I had a similar issue when flying over the ocean, the mist left some residue on the lenses. Note that even when you turn OA off, there's a separate option there to use OA on RTH which is turned on by default. Wiping lenses with microfiber stopped the phantom OA messages.

Thank you - I will locate the separate OA option. Thanks again.

 

[Porto]

This problem has been mentioned in several posts lately.

Wouldn't be surprised if this is another bug in the latest FW.